The Literacy Learning Progressions

8/19/2019 The Literacy Learning Progressions

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THELITERACY LEARNINGPROGRESSIONSMeeting the Reading and Writing Demands of the Curriculum


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Published 2010 for the Ministry of Educationby Learning Media Limited, Box 3293, Wellington 6140, New Zealand.www.learningmedia.co.nz

All text copyright © Crown 2010 (except for the extracts stated and the examples ofstudents’ writing described below)

Extracts in the Literacy Learning Progressions for reading are from the Ready to Readseries, the School Journal, The Gene Seekers (Applications series) , Break Free magazine,and Alpha128. Copyright for the texts and photographs in The Gene Seekers, Ready toRead, and the School Journal is as stated in the original publications; all other illustrationsin the Ready to Read and School Journal extracts are copyright © Crown. The extract fromBreak Free magazine is copyright © Ministry of Health 2000; the extract from Alpha 128 iscopyright © Royal Society of New Zealand 2006.

The examples of students’ writing in the progressions from After One Year at School toBy the End of Year 8 have been reproduced by kind permission of the writers and arecopyright © Crown 2009. The drawing by Miro and the associated text in the sectionThe First Year are both reproduced, with permission, from Wadestown Kindergarten’s

Centre of Innovation Research and are copyright © Crown 2009. “The Caterpillar”, whichillustrates writing in the section The First Year, and “Rescuing the Temples at Abu Simbel”,which illustrates writing in the section By the End of Year 10, are both from The NewZealand Exemplars: English (at www.tki.org.nz/r/assessment/exemplars/eng/explanation/)and are copyright © Crown 2003.

All rights reserved. Enquiries should be made to the publisher.

Dewey number 028.7ISBN 978 0 7903 3511 7

Further copies may be ordered from Ministry of Education Customer Services,freephone 0800 660 662, freefax 0800 660 663,by email: orders thechair.minedu.govt.nz or online at www.thechair.minedu.govt.nzPlease quote item number 33511.


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THELITERACY LEARNINGPROGRESSIONS

Contents 2 Foreword 3 Introduction

3 Understanding the literacy demands of the curriculum 4 Understanding the Literacy Learning Progressions 7 Implications for practice

8 The Structure of the Progressions 9 The First Year

9 Starting school 10 In the rst year of school

11 The Literacy Learning Progressions 12 After one year at school

13 After two years at school

14 After three years at school 15 By the end of year 4 16 By the end of year 6 17 By the end of year 8 18 By the end of year 10

21 Glossary

25 References

Meeting the Reading and Writing Demands of the Curriculum


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Tēnā koutou katoa

It is my pleasure to introduce The Literacy Learning Progressions , one of the professional tools providedto support the New Zealand Curriculum. This is the revised, nal version of the progressions.

The draft document Literacy Learning Progressions: Meeting the Reading and Writing Demands of theCurriculum was distributed for consultation in November 2007. Feedback was collated and analysed inNovember 2008, and a report of the ndings was published in 2009 on a Ministry of Education website(at www.educationcounts.govt.nz/publications/literacy/43632).

New Zealand has a world-leading curriculum that sets out the vision, values, key competencies, andlearning areas for our New Zealand schools and students. The National Standards in reading and writinghave been aligned closely to the New Zealand Curriculum and to these Literacy Learning Progressions,which also support key government initiatives, including Ka Hikitia and the Pasika Education Plan.

The Literacy Learning Progressions describe the specic literacy knowledge, skills, and attitudes thatstudents draw on in order to meet the reading and writing demands of the curriculum. Literacy inEnglish is critical in enabling students to engage successfully with all aspects of the curriculum. The keycompetencies and all the learning areas depend on students being able to understand, respond to, and usea variety of forms of written language (as well as oral and visual language) in order to think about, locate,interpret, and evaluate ideas and information and to communicate with other people.

Teachers need to ensure that their students develop the literacy expertise that will enable them to engagewith the curriculum at increasing levels of complexity and with increasing independence. As studentsprogress through schooling, they need to be able to read and write increasingly complex texts and to engagewith increasingly complex tasks. The Literacy Learning Progressions take account of this increasingcomplexity and describe the literacy expertise that students need in order to meet these demands.The levels of demand that students are expected to meet are set out in The New Zealand Curriculum Readingand Writing Standards for Years 1–8.

The Ministry thanks all who have contributed to the development of the draft Literacy Learning Progressions and all who have contributed to revising this nal version.

Nāku noa

Karen SewellSecretary for Education

FOREWORD


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INTRODUCTION

The Literacy Learning Progressions: Meeting the Reading and Writing Demands of the Curriculum is a professionaltool for teachers. It describes and illustrates the literacy-related knowledge, skills, and attitudes that students

need to draw on in order to meet the reading and writing demands of the New Zealand Curriculum from year 1 toyear 10. The expectations for levels of students’ literacy expertise, for each year of schooling through to the end ofyear 8, are set out in The New Zealand Curriculum Reading and Writing Standards for Years 1–8 (2009). The LiteracyLearning Progressions alert teachers to what students need to know and be able to do, at specic points in theirschooling, if they are to engage with the texts and tasks of the curriculum and make the expected progress.

The Literacy Learning Progressions are neither an assessment tool nor a teaching programme; rather, theyprovide a reference point. Teachers should refer to them when gathering information about their students’literacy strengths and needs (using a variety of reliable formal and informal assessment tools and procedures)in order to plan effective literacy learning programmes. The intention is that students will develop their literacyexpertise (the knowledge, skills, and attitudes described in the progressions) purposefully, in meaningful contexts.

Understanding the literacy demands of the curriculumStudents need to do more than just read and write. They need to use their reading and writing to meet thedemands of the New Zealand Curriculum. These demands are integral to many of the teaching and learningactivities that support students in developing the key competencies as well as knowledge and skills in all theessential learning areas.

Reading and writing as interactive tools

Reading and writing are interactive tools 1 that students use to engage with all the learning areas of the NewZealand Curriculum.

While some of the texts that students read and write are literary texts (which are almost always taught within the

English learning area), others are texts integral to learning in other areas of the curriculum. These include textssuch as information reports and procedural texts.

As language is central to learning and English is the medium for most learning in the New ZealandCurriculum, the importance of literacy in English cannot be overstated.

The New Zealand Curriculum, page 16

In the early years, most of the texts that students read or write within classroom contexts, largely by themselves,are part of their literacy instructional programme. As their literacy knowledge and skills develop, studentsincreasingly use their reading and writing to meet specic learning purposes across the curriculum. From themiddle years onwards, effective teachers systematically identify opportunities to strengthen students’ literacyexpertise within a wide variety of curriculum learning activities. By the time students enter year 9, the readingand writing demands are implicit in much of their everyday curriculum learning.

The increasingly complex texts and tasks of the curriculum

As students move through the school system, the texts that they read and write and the tasks with which theymust engage become increasingly complex. At the same time, the content (subject matter) that they read andwrite about becomes more abstract and specialised.

The reading and writing demands that the progressions describe were identied by analysing the achievementobjectives for each learning area and also examples of the texts and tasks used in programmes designed to meetthose objectives. 2

1 The concept of interactive tools is based on the competencies model developed in the OECD project The Denition andSelection of Key Competencies (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, 2005).

2 For example, the analysis included some exemplars from The New Zealand Curriculum Exemplars.


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A text’s complexity is affected by the kinds of information in it (the complexity of its content) and the ways in whichthat information is related and presented (the complexity of its structure and language). The characteristicsthat make texts more complex, and the main tasks for which the students need to use their reading and writing,are described in the The New Zealand Curriculum Reading and Writing Standards for Years 1–8. They are furtherexplained in the professional learning materials provided online to support these standards.

Understanding the Literacy Learning ProgressionsThe Literacy Learning Progressions describe the knowledge, skills, and attitudes that students draw on in order tomeet the reading and writing demands of the New Zealand Curriculum.

The theoretical basis for literacy developmentThe theoretical basis for the Literacy Learning Progressions is described in the Ministry of Education handbooksEffective Literacy Practice in Years 1 to 4 and Effective Literacy Practice in Years 5 to 8.

The progressions have been designed on the basis that there are three main aspects to the knowledge, skills, andattitudes that students need to acquire. 3

Literacy learners need to learn the code of written language. This learning includes phonological•awareness, knowledge of the alphabetic principle and of phoneme–grapheme relationships, knowledge ofhow words work, and automatic recognition or spelling of familiar words (automaticity).

Literacy learners need to learn to make meaning of texts. This learning includes the use of background•knowledge (including knowledge relating to their culture, language, and identity), vocabulary knowledge,knowledge of how language is structured, knowledge about literacy, and strategies to get or conveymeaning.

Literacy learners need to think critically. This includes analysing and responding to texts and bringing a•critical awareness to reading and writing.

Developing expertise

Learning to read and write is a complex, cumulative process. The theoretical basis described in the handbooksbrings together three related concepts:

• the pathway to literacy is developmental;

• social and cultural practices shape literacy learning;

• students take individual and multiple pathways in their learning.

Effective Literacy Practice in Years 5 to 8,page 21

Students’ participation in various language and literacy practices at home and in early childhood settings meansthat they will all bring literacy knowledge, skills, and attitudes to their school learning. They build on their existingexpertise and use their developing knowledge and skills in different ways.

However, there are particular skills and items of knowledge that all students need to master in order to developtheir independence and uency sufciently to engage successfully with the range of texts and tasks required,across the curriculum, at various points in schooling. These essential skills and items of knowledge, which havebeen described as “constrained skills”, 4 include, for example, knowing how to read from left to right and being ableto identify the letters of the alphabet and produce the appropriate sounds for each letter. The ways in which theconstrained skills are developed follow a similar pattern for most students; they are often mastered over a shortperiod of time. On the other hand, “unconstrained” skills and knowledge, such as those used for comprehension,are more dynamic and continue to develop over a lifetime.

3 The information in this section is adapted from Effective Literacy Practice in Years 1 to 4, page 24; Effective Literacy Practice inYears 5 to 8, page 25; and Snow et al., 2005, page 17.

4 Refer to Paris, 2005.


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The Literacy Learning Progressions alert teachers to what their students need to know and be able to do atparticular points in their schooling. Without this knowledge and these skills, the students’ further developmentwill be limited.

The progressions also highlight students’ developing awareness of a widening range of strategies and theirincreasing control of these strategies. To support their students in developing metacognition, teachers need tounderstand the idea that a learner’s knowledge and skills can be “under control” and used by the learner withinthe classroom context independently, that is, largely by themselves (Davis, 2007). It is important that students areactively taught to be aware of the literacy expertise they are using and of how they are using it, so that they candeliberately select from their repertoire of literacy knowledge and skills and apply them in more and more contextsin different areas of the curriculum. This metacognitive awareness enables them to become independent readersand writers.

Throughout schooling, transition across learning settings can disrupt students’ developing literacy learning.Transition points include the transition between home and school and the transition from one level of schoolingto another, as well as transitions across different language settings and between intervention programmes andthe classroom. The progressions highlight specic shifts in curriculum demand at these points, but teachersalso need to be aware of the risks involved when the continuity of students’ literacy learning is interrupted at

these times.However, transitions can offer opportunities as well as risks. For example, teaching and learning are moreeffective when teachers recognise and build on the range of literacy expertise that culturally and linguisticallydiverse students bring into the classroom.

The role of oral language

The Literacy Learning Progressions take account of the signicant role of oral language in thinking and learning.Students not only need to learn the language of the classroom in order to participate in every curriculum activity;they also specically draw on their oral language knowledge and skills to develop their expertise in reading andwriting. Oral language knowledge includes knowledge of vocabulary and of the forms and features of texts.

The relationship between oral language and literacy learning is strongly reciprocal. Children draw on theiroral (or signed) language when they learn to read and write and, in turn, their progressing literacy learningenriches and expands their oral language and their metalinguistic awareness.

Learning through Talk: Oral Language in Years 1 to 3, page 70

Statements drawn from the Ministry of Education’s oral language handbooks, Learning through Talk: Oral Languagein Years 1 to 3 and Learning through Talk: Oral Language in Years 4 to 8, are threaded throughout the progressions asprompts for teachers to make connections to their literacy practice.

The reading progressions

The reading progressions describe the knowledge, skills, and attitudes that students draw on when they use their

reading as an interactive tool.For the early years, the progressions focus clearly on the constrained knowledge and skills that students need inorder to decode.

Even if we keep in mind the caveat that reading is more than word recognition, … the active processingof sentences and paragraphs cannot occur unless the reader can recognize individual words reliably andefciently. That is why learning to decode is so important.

Pressley, 2006, page 52

When students have learned to process texts uently, they can use more of their cognitive resources to engage withmeaning, examine texts critically, and control reading strategies exibly. Most students will have well-establisheddecoding skills and be processing texts uently after three years at school.


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It is essential that students are able to use more unconstrained or dynamic knowledge and skills by year 6, whenthe texts and tasks of the curriculum are becoming more complex. Students at this level are expected to respondto texts in ways that relate to their purposes for reading. They are asked to think critically about the ideas andinformation in texts as they consider writers’ purposes, readers’ different perspectives, and the impact of textson audiences.

Fluent readers can adjust their rate of reading to take into account factors such as their purpose for reading, thedensity of the text, and how much time they have. 5

The writing progressionsThe writing progressions describe the knowledge, skills, and attitudes that students draw on when they createtexts. Because of the role of writing as an interactive tool across the curriculum, there is a specic focuson purpose in the writing progressions. Students use their writing to think about, record, and communicateexperiences, ideas, and information. The student’s purpose for writing will determine the process they use – thereis no single, “correct” writing process. For example, it is not usually necessary for students to plan their writingwhen the purpose is to jot down thoughts or to record information.

In the early years, there is a focus on students getting their ideas and experiences down on paper. To do so, they

need to begin encoding or spelling words.

Encoding and spelling are the same thing: they both describe a writer’s recording of the words they want to usein their writing. The word “encoding” is used, in the writing progressions, to connect to “decoding” in readingbecause students draw on the same set of knowledge and skills for both reading and writing as they learn touse the code of written language. Students develop their spelling through using their knowledge of phoneme–grapheme relationships, of how words work (morphology), and of common and reliable spelling rules andconventions. 6 At the same time, they develop their automaticity in spelling as they increase the number of wordsin their visual memory that they can spell without stopping to think. The writing progressions refer to word listspublished by the NZCER, 7 although there are other similar lists of high-frequency words that teachers might use.The important point is that the words students learn are those that they want and need to write often and that theylearn them in authentic and purposeful contexts.

As with decoding, once students can encode uently, they can use more of their cognitive resources to conveymeaning. The texts that they create will become more complex as the content (the subject matter they are writingabout) becomes more specialised.

Reading and writing together

Reading and writing are strongly reciprocal, not only in how they develop (see pages 123–124 in Effective LiteracyPractice in Years 5 to 8) but also in how they are used. Many curriculum tasks will require students to use theirreading and writing together to a greater or lesser extent.

In particular, there is a strong relationship between the way students develop their vocabulary in their reading andin their writing. “Knowing” a word or a phrase involves a complex network of connections (including collocations,connotations, and denotations), images, and understandings. Initially, students’ vocabulary knowledge is gainedfrom their exposure to and use of oral language. They hear and learn the meanings of large numbers of words,storing them in memory and recalling their meanings when they hear them again. Some experts, cited on page 39of The English Language Learning Progressions: Introduction (Ministry of Education, 2008a) have estimated thatnative speakers of English at primary school learn at least three or four thousand new words each year.

5 Refer to “A note on uency in written language”, on page 24 of Effective Literacy Practice in Years 5 to 8, for more informationabout the concept of uency.

6 Refer to http://soundsandwords.tki.org.nz/ for further information about teaching sounds and words.7 Croft, C. with Mapa, L. (1998). See also NZCER (2005).


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Integrating an understanding of cultural identityLiteracy is a sociocultural practice. Students bring their lived experiences – their culture, language, andidentity – with them into the classroom. Ka Hikitia and the Pasika Education Plan emphasise the importanceof building on these experiences. Ka Hikitia – Managing for Success: The Māori Education Strategy 2008–2012focuses on “Māori enjoying education success as Māori” (page 18). The strategy emphasises ako as the basisfor teaching and learning relationships in which educators also learn from students and in which teachingpractice is deliberate, reective, and informed by the latest research. Students are more likely to achieve whenthey see themselves and their culture reected in curriculum subject matter in all learning contexts.

Effective teachers actively seek opportunities to build on the skills and experiences that their students bring tothe classroom. They deliberately choose texts and tasks that reinforce each learner’s lived experience, so thateach learner can integrate their own culture, language, and identity into their learning and achievement.

Developing English language learners’ literacy expertiseReading and writing English-language texts presents particular challenges for students who are learningEnglish as an additional language. All teachers need to be aware of these challenges and able to identify thediffering language learning needs of these students.

English language learners in New Zealand schools have very diverse language learning needs. Students withminimal English will have obvious needs, while other English language learners may have good social Englishlanguage but may lack prociency in the academic English that is needed to access the curriculum. (However,teachers need to be aware that all students, not just those who are learning English, will need specicinstruction in academic English.)

The English Language Learning Progressions sets out the important things that primary and secondaryschool teachers need to know about literacy learning in English for students who are learning English asan additional language.

Implications for practice

The Ministry of Education publishes resources to support teachers of literacy at all levels and in all curriculumareas. The Literacy Learning Progressions align with the key resources.

The progressions are further explained in the professional learning materials provided online to supportthe reading and writing standards.

Knowing the demandsTeachers need to be aware of the challenges in the literacy demands across the curriculum. These challengesinclude the characteristics of texts themselves, the complexity of the tasks, and the match between each text andeach student’s existing knowledge, lived experiences, and expertise. Further professional learning materials willbe provided online to support the reading and writing standards and to support teachers in understanding theliteracy demands in texts and tasks.

A note on the concept of “reading age”

The concept of “reading age” provides only a rough guide to the complexity of a text, and theterm is not a valid way to describe a student’s level of reading expertise.

An analysis of student data by NZCER reveals that, at least by year 4, “year level is in facta slightly better predictor of scale score than age” (Darr et al., 2008, page 14). The resultsshowed that differences in chronological age made no signicant difference to the results ofPAT reading tests, despite an age difference in any one year group of up to eighteen months.

Enabling students to meet the demandsTeachers need to:

understand the developmental process for the year groups they teach;•

be aware that learners construct meaning within social and cultural settings (including home•and school settings);

recognise the importance of making connections to students’ individual expertise and interests•and building from there.

These concepts underlie the literacy learning model on which both Effective Literacy Practice in Years 1 to 4 andEffective Literacy Practice in Years 5 to 8 are based. For secondary school teachers, Effective Literacy Strategiesin Years 9 to 13: A Guide for Teachers provides suggestions, based on the same model, to help develop students’relevant literacy expertise in all subject areas.


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READING WRITING

Rich vocabulary instructionencourages students to developword consciousness by thinkingactively about word meanings,

word structures, and how they might use andunderstand those words in different situations.

page 73

From “Plightof the SeaTurtle”,by Jill MacGregor(SchoolJournal ,Part3 Number2,2008)

‘Bottle Submarine’

BY THE END OF YEAR 6

The transition into year5 brings with it a signicant step up in terms of the demand for students touse their reading as an interactive tool for learning. Although they continue to read texts as partof their literacy learning programme, most of the texts that students are n ow required to read areinstructional materials from across the curriculum. The texts and tasks are similar for students inyear 5 and year 6. Students read in order to locate, evaluate, and integrate information and ideaswithin and across a small range of texts as they generate and answer questions to meet speciclearning purposes across the curriculum.

During these two years, students continue to develop their accuracy and uency as readers of avariety of texts. Th ey increase their level of control and independence in selecting strategies forusing texts to support their learning. By the end of year6 , students are required to read longertexts more quickly and to select appropriate strategies for different reading purposes moreeffectively than students in year 5.

When students at this level read, respond to, and think critically about texts, they:

monitor their reading for accuracy and sense, demonstrating that they have the condence•to adjust their reading (e.g., by varying the speed of reading, by rereading, and by attendingto the most important information) when they encounter difculties;

understand how they select from and use their repertoire of comprehension strategies,•which include:

making connections between their prior knowledge and the concrete examples in–a text in order to understand abstract ideas in the text

locating and summarising ideas (e.g., by skimming or scanning, by identifying key–words, topic sentences, and key questions, or by using subheadings)

drawing on several related items of information in order to infer ideas and information–that are not directly stated in the text

evaluating and integrating ideas and information across a small range of texts;–

regularly read for sustained periods and sustain meaning over many days in longer texts•(such as novels) and across a variety of texts on the same topic;

identify and reect on writers’ purposes and on the ways in which writers use language and•ideas to suit their purposes (e.g., by using vocabulary to set a scene or develop a mood).

They draw on knowledge and skills that include:

decoding texts uently and accurately, using a range of reliable strategies;•

nding and learning the meanings of unknown vocabulary by using strategies such as•applying their knowledge of how words work or seeking explanations in the text or in

illustrations;understanding that words and phrases can have gurative as well as literal meanings and•that some words have different meanings depending on the context;

recognising basic grammatical constructions and understanding how these affect meaning;•

identifying the specic language features and structures of many common continuous and•non-continuous text types (including mixed text types);

interpreting illustrations, photographs, text boxes, diagrams, maps, charts, and graphs.•

Thetransitioninto year5 bringswithita signicantstepupintermsofthedemandforstudentstousetheirwritingas aninteractivetoolfor learning.Although theycontinueto createtextsaspartof theirinstructionalwriting programme,mostof thetextsthat studentsarerequiredtowritein years5and 6areintendedto meetthedemands ofthe curriculum.The textsandtasks aresimilarforstudents inyear5andyear6. Theyusetheirwritingtothinkabout,record,andcommunicateexperiences,ideas,andinformationtomeet speciclearningpurposes acrossthecurriculum.

During these two years, students write about increasingly challenging subject matter. They increasetheir level of control and independence in selecting processes and strategies to write texts for a rangeof purposes that includes recounting, describing, narrating, reporting, arguing, and explaining. Bythe end of year6 , students are required to write more complex texts than students in year 5. Theyindependently create texts that are appropriate for their purposes and audiences, choosing effectivecontent, language, and text structures.

When students at this level create texts, they:

understand their purposes for writing and identify writing processes that are appropriate for•those purposes;

use a variety of planning activities, such as constructing ow charts, for those writing tasks•that need to be planned;

generate content that is usually relevant to the task, supporting or elaborating their main•ideas with detail that has been selected with some care;

independently revise and edit their writing to clarify its meaning and add impact, often in•response to feedback;

proofread to check the spelling, grammar, and punctuation, using appropriate computer-•based or print tools.


using an overall text structure that is appropriate for their purpose, e.g., an orientation, a•problem, a climax, and a satisfying resolution (for a narrative) and an introduction, a series ofmain points, and a logical conclusion (for a report);

selecting vocabulary that is appropriate to the topic, register, and purpose (e.g., academic and•subject-specic vocabulary appropriate for specic learning areas or precise and descriptivewords to create a mental image);

using written language features (such as emotive vocabulary) and visual language features•(such as headings, charts, or maps) to extend or clarify meaning and to engage their audience;

using their knowledge of how words work (e.g., knowledge of diverse phoneme–grapheme•

relationships, of common, reliable spelling rules and conventions, and of the meanings andspellings of morphemes), along with their knowledge of word derivations, to uently andcorrectly encode most unfamiliar words, including words of many syllables;

correctly spelling all high-frequency words• 15 used in their writing;

organising related ideas into paragraphs (e.g., paragraphs comprising a topic sentence with•supporting detail) and beginning to use cohesive devices to link paragraphs;

using simple and compound sentences that are correct grammatically and have a variety•of structures, beginnings, and lengths and using some complex sentences that are mostlycorrect grammatically;

using basic punctuation that is mostly correct (e.g., when punctuating dialogue);•

attempting some complex punctuation (e.g., using apostrophes for possession, commas for•clauses, or semicolons).

15 High-frequencywordsatthis levelcould,forexample,includeallthose inthe listsofessentialwordsin Croft(1998).

Most studentswill beworking towardslevel3 of theNewZealand Curriculum by theend of year5 and at level3 of theNewZealand Curriculum by theend of year6.

”

THE STRUCTURE OF THE PROGRESSIONS

This paragraph describes the readingdemands of the texts and tasks of theNew Zealand Curriculum at this level.

The key characteristics of the texts thatstudents read are described in The NewZealand Curriculum Reading and WritingStandards for Years 1–8 .

This paragraph describes the shift instudents’ reading expertise over thesetwo years.

This set of bullet points describesthe expertise and the attitudes thatstudents demonstrate when they readtexts in order to meet the demands ofthe curriculum at this level.

This paragraph describes the specicskills and items of knowledge thatstudents draw on as they use theirexpertise in reading at this level.

The progressions for By the End of Year 6 and By the End of Year8 describe the demands of the texts and tasks of the curriculumover a two-year period (from the beginning of year 5 to the endof year 6 and from the beginning of year 7 to the end of year 8).

This paragraph describes the writingdemands of the texts and tasks of theNew Zealand Curriculum at this level.The key characteristics of the textsthat students create are described inThe New Zealand Curriculum Readingand Writing Standards for Years 1–8 .

This paragraph describes the shift instudents’ writing expertise over thesetwo years.

This set of bullet points describesthe expertise and the attitudes thatstudents demonstrate when they writetexts in order to meet the demands ofthe curriculum at this level.

This paragraph describes the specicskills and items of knowledge thatstudents draw on as they use theirexpertise in writing at this level.

The kinds of texts that students are expected to write are illustrated inThe New Zealand Curriculum Reading and Writing Standards for Years 1–8.

Quotations from the Learning through Talk handbooks have beenused throughout the progressions to illustrate the fact that orallanguage always underpins progress in reading and writing.

The kinds of texts that students are expected to read are illustrated inThe New Zealand Curriculum: Reading and Writing Standards for Years 1–8 .

An example: By the End of Year 6


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In the rst year of school

Students begin reading and writing from their rst day at school. Effective teachers build on the literacy knowledge,skills, and attitudes that students bring to their school learning.

Much of the school day revolves around literacy. In addition to shared and guided reading and writing, teachers supporttheir students’ literacy learning with a rich mix of approaches, including language experience and frequent reading tostudents. They provide many opportunities for students to read and write independently and to engage in purposefulliteracy tasks.

ORAL LANGUAGE

Focused teaching and many opportunities to engage in talk help students’ oral vocabularies to keep expandingrapidly. Students enjoy identifying and using new words, phrases, and language patterns that they discover inthe books and poems they hear or read. They are constantly rening their ability to aurally distinguish sounds inspoken words.

Students use talk to organise and clarify their ideas, and they can offer opinions and responses about the texts theyread and hear. They use an increasing variety of verb forms correctly, including irregular past-tense forms, and theydraw on their understanding of grammatical structure when they read and write. They develop condence in waysof talking and listening that are important for their learning at school, such as asking questions and participating indiscussions. They can recount an experience or retell a story clearly and logically, with some awareness of the likelyneeds of the listener. With prompting, they can draw on this awareness when writing for an audience.

Students are becoming aware of some of the differences between spoken and written language. They can use andunderstand many more words than they can read or write.

READING

The Ready to Read series is the core instructional reading series. Ready to Read books are carefully levelled andprovide a gradient of difculty to support students in developing effective reading processing systems. Texts designedfor students to use in the rst year are relatively short, with clear storylines, and use mostly familiar vocabulary andsimple sentence structures. As students read these texts, teachers help them to draw on their oral language, andon understandings gained from their writing, as they acquire and consolidate basic reading skills and knowledgeof letters and sounds. Students learn how to make meaning of and think critically about increasingly challengingtexts. Initially, teachers provide a high level of support, but they adapt this scaffolding carefully as their students gaincontrol over a range of reading processing and comprehension strategies.

Although students progress at different rates, they all need to be at or near Yellow level after six months of instruction inorder to reach the goal of reading at Green level by the end of the rst year of school . The intention is that stud ents willspend just long enough at each reading level for teachers to observe and conrm that appropriate processing behavioursare in place. Students have many opportunities for independent reading to strengthen their reading processing systems.

9 Some children may have prior experiences with (and prior knowledge of) books in languages that have other conventions; forexample, Arabic texts are read from right to left.

10 Refer to Effective Literacy Practice in Years 1 to 4 , pages 28–31, for information about these sources of information in texts.

As soon as students start school, they begin reading texts atMagenta level. At this level, they need to:

develop early concepts about print, such as the ideas that•the print carries the message and that print is read fromleft to right; 9

expect a text to make sense and sound right;•

gain control over one-to-one word matching;•

start building a reading vocabulary of high-frequency•words.

From Look at Me by Miriam Macdonald,Ready to Read (Magenta)

At Red level, students are learning how to process print. They make meaningof text by applying their increasing ability to attend to the print detail and theirgrowing knowledge of sentence structures and also by using their expandingreading vocabulary and the illustrations. They need to:

know that words are made up of sounds and that letters represent•sounds;

attend to initial letters and common inections (e.g.,• -s , -ed , -ing )as they read;

understand the function of some simple punctuation;•

read groups of words together in phrases;•

gain control over using a return sweep with multiple lines of text;•

notice some errors in their reading and take action to self-correct.•

Students at this level have a sense of excitement about their reading and are keento share the connections between the texts they read and their own experiences.

From Lāvalava by Lino Nelisi,Ready to Read (Red)

At Yellow level, students are developing their ability to search for and useinterrelated sources of information (semantic, syntactic, and visual and grapho-phonic). 10 They use a wider range of word-solving strategies and comprehensionstrategies to make or conrm meaning. They need to be able to:

decode simple, regular words by using their knowledge of grapheme–•phoneme relationships and by making analogies to known rimes;

use sentence structure and context to supplement information gained•from partial decoding attempts;

understand the function of some language and punctuation features•(e.g., the use of pronouns and speech marks to help track dialoguebetween characters);

use comprehension strategies such as forming hypotheses and•making simple inferences.

Students at Yellow level enjoy discussing the texts t hey read and offering opinionsabout them. Their reading is uent and well-phrased, and they usually read without nger pointing.

From Purr-fect! by Dot Meharry,Ready to Read (Yellow)

From The Hissing Bush by Trish Puharich,Ready to Read (Blue)

At Blue level, students apply their reading processing strategies to longerand more varied texts. They need to:

monitor their reading, searching for and using multiple sources of•information in order to conrm or self-correct;

recognise many high-frequency words automatically;•

engage more deeply with texts (e.g., by using comprehension•strategies to generate their own questions or to evaluate theeffectiveness of a text).

Students at this level are curious about language. They enjoydiscovering new things and talking about their discoveries (for example,noticing that they can work out a compound word by recognising thecomponents). They read some sections of text silently.


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“The Caterpillar” at www.tki.org.nz/r/assessment/exemplars/eng/explanation/

Studies of effective teachers haveshown that they continually makeexplicit the connections betweenreading and writing. Teacherswho have a grasp of this reciprocalrelationship recognise that writingis neither secondary to reading norsomething to be taught separatelyfrom reading.

Effective Literacy Practice inYears 1 to 4, page 113

The teacher has a crucial role inassessing what students can do andtargeting instruction to what theyneed to learn. Teachers respondto learners’ needs by intensifyinginstruction as necessary to ensurethat all their students becomesuccessful learners.

WRITING

In their rst year of school, students create many texts for a range of purposes across the curriculum.They plan for writing, using talk and pictures, and they attempt to record their ideas and experiencesin print.

At rst, there is a high level of scaffolding as teachers help students to:

hold an idea in their head long enough to write it down;•

say, hear, and record the predominant sounds in the words they•want to write;

write from left to right and leave spaces between words;•

form letters accurately.•

Gradually, the support alters as teachers help students to build andstrengthen their processing systems and to create longer, morecomplex texts. Students learn to:

experiment with capturing words from their oral vocabulary;•

hear and say the initial and nal sounds and some dominant•medial sounds in the words they want to write;recognise and identify common sounds in different words;•

use their developing visual memory to consistently encode•(spell) some known words correctly;

make close attempts to encode words by using their•developing knowledge of phoneme–grapheme relationships,which enables them to:

understand that words are made up of sounds and that–sounds are written with letters

write all consonant sounds, and represent some vowel–sounds, in at least one way

attempt to record the sounds within words in sequence;–

make close attempts to encode words by noticing visual•similarities to known words;

attempt to use capital letters and full stops as they develop•their understanding of sentences;

reread what they write as they are writing and read (or retell)•their writing to themselves and others.

Students in the rst year of school are becoming increasingly awareof the purposes for their writing, and they use a range of text forms.They can express their ideas in increasingly interesting ways as theygain control over using more complex language structures, includingvaried ways of beginning sentences.

THELITERACY LEARNINGPROGRESSIONS

The reading and writing progressions for years 1–10 are describedon the following pages (pages 12–20).

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READING WRITING

Students will be learning in a range of contexts across the New Zealand Curriculum within level 1.

AFTER ONE YEAR AT SCHOOL

In their rst year at school, students are engaging with texts as they learn in a range of contextsacross the curriculum. Many texts, including picture books and topic-related non-ction books, areread aloud by the teacher. The texts that students read largely by themselves are usually selectedspecically to meet instructional reading purposes.

After one year at school, students are reading, responding to, and thinking critically about a varietyof ction and non-ction texts at Green level. They use a range of sources of information in the text,along with their prior knowledge, to make sense of the texts they read. They know that readingshould be phrased, and they read at an appropriate pace. With some teacher guidance, students usestrategies such as asking questions and making inferences to help them t hink more deeply aboutthe ideas in the text.


understand that we read to get meaning;•

condently approach challenges in their reading and persevere when t hey are having•difculties, because they know how to problem-solve;

monitor their own reading and self-correct where necessary, using strategies such as•rerunning text or checking further sources of information;

use a variety of comprehension strategies to interpret and respond to a range of texts.•


having all concepts about print under control;•

using appropriate language about books, (e.g., the terms• title, author , and illustration);

using their developing phonemic awareness to aurally identify and distinguish individual•phonemes within words, i.e., to blend phonemes (e.g., by saying m/a/n/ is man) and tosegment phonemes (e.g., by saying seat is s/ea/t/ );

identifying all letters by name and being able to produce an associated sound for•each letter;

automatically recognising many (100–200) of the high-frequency words in their•instructional texts;

decoding unfamiliar words by using their developing knowledge of grapheme–phoneme•relationships, which enables them to:

identify common graphemes (e.g.,– sh, ch, ow , ai , th, oy ) and produce an associatedsound for each one

apply the knowledge that letters can be pronounced in different ways (e.g.,– about,

and , a pron)apply strategies such as: sounding out words; using knowledge of graphemes–(e.g., sh, aw , t, p, or ); and using analogy to read words that contain familiar chunks(e.g., est , en, ump);

decoding unfamiliar words by using some knowledge of morphology (e.g., the word endings•-s, -ing, and - ed );

applying their knowledge of vocabulary in order to understand words as they decode them•and to make meaning at t he sentence and whole-text level;

understanding the meaning of basic punctuation features (e.g., full stops, speech marks, and•exclamation marks).

In their rst year at school, students create texts in a range of contexts across the curriculum.The texts that students write largely by themselves usually meet specic instructional writingpurposes. They write about their experiences and ideas as well as writing to record information ondifferent topics.

After one year at school, students begin to use specic processes to create texts, and theseprocesses may vary depending on the particular purpose for writing. The students are able to readand talk about their completed texts.


plan for writing, using talk, text, or drawing;•

convey simple ideas, responses, opinions, or questions;•

reread what they have written, as they write, to maintain meaning;•

respond to feedback by making changes such as adding or deleting details or changing• punctuation or spelling.


using vocabulary drawn from their own oral language or encountered in their reading or•other classroom activities;

using their developing phonemic awareness to aurally segment words into syllables (e.g.,•win-dow , ham-bur-ger ) and one-syllable words into individual phonemes (e.g., b/a/n/d; sh/i/p) ;

using their developing visual memory to accurately write some key personal words and some•high-frequency words; 11

encoding (spelling) unfamiliar words by using their developing knowledge of phoneme–•grapheme relationships, which enables them to:

recognise and write most sounds of English in at least one appropriate way–(e.g., s, t, ch, ow , k, f , oy )

recognise that there can be different ways of representing the same sound–(e.g., phone/ f ather ; k eep/ c at)

apply sound–letter relationships in order to write words they want to use–(e.g., catapulla);

encoding (spelling) unfamiliar words by using their developing knowledge of morphology•to write word endings correctly (e.g., jump/jumped ; boy/boy s);

using classroom resources such as wallcharts and picture dictionaries;•

forming all upper-case and lower-case letters and numerals correctly;•

understanding simple text types (e.g., personal recounts and simple descriptions) and using•them to meet their writing purpose;

composing simple sentences and composing some compound sentences using conjunctions•such as and or but;

using capital letters and full stops to begin and end sentences.•

11 Examples of high-frequency words appropriate at this level could include most words from Essential List 1and some words from Essential List 2 in Croft (1998).

Once students start making linksbetween their phonological andphonemic awareness and what theycan read or write, their growing

knowledge of the code of written language inturn enhances their awareness of the soundsand complex rules of spoken English.

page 71

From The Way It Wasby Dot Meharry,Ready to Read (Green)

From A Good Idea by Bill Nagelkerke,Ready to Read (Green)

On the weekend I wonder why wehave night and day?

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READING WRITING

When teachers make explicitlinks between the oral and writtenforms of words (for example, byusing word games as independent

literacy tasks), they help to develop students’knowledge and awareness of word structure(morphology) and spelling (orthography).

page 71

From The King’s Birthday by Dot Meharry,Ready to Read (Turquoise)

From Inside the Maize Maze by Sharon Holt,Ready to Read (Turquoise)

‘The Tupperware Party’

‘Stories along the River’

AFTER TWO YEARS AT SCHOOL

In their second year at school, students are engaging with a wide variety of texts for a number ofpurposes, although the texts that they read, largely by themselves, are still mostly those that havebeen selected for instructional reading.

After two years at school, students are reading, responding to, and thinking critically about avariety of ction and non-ction texts at Turquoise level. They read longer texts with increasingindependence and with appropriate intonation, expression, and phrasing. They exibly use thesources of information in text, in combination with their prior knowledge, to make meaning andconsider new ideas. (Their prior knowledge includes ideas and information from their culture, fromtheir language, and from other texts they have read.) With teacher guidance, students draw on awider range of comprehension strategies to help them think more deeply about what they read.


understand that texts have purposes and are written for audiences;•

take appropriate action when they lose meaning, both at the sentence level and across•larger sections of the text, without affecting the pace of their reading;

use comprehension strategies to:•

locate and interpret ideas and information that are directly stated or explicit in the–text or illustrations

respond to ideas, plots, and characters–

think critically about aspects such as the theme or ideas;–

make appropriate choices of texts for independent reading.•


automatically recognising between 300 and 500 high-frequency words in their•instructional texts;

decoding unfamiliar words by:•

using their knowledge of grapheme–phoneme relationships to identify both–consonant sounds (e.g., s , t, p, sh , th , ch , ng) and vowel sounds (e.g., e , a, o, ai , ow ,igh , ou, ee )

recognising common chunks of words and making analogies to words that–look similar

using their developing knowledge of morphology (such as knowledge of prexes–and sufxes);

nding the meanings of unknown words by using strategies such as:•

rereading text to gather more information–looking for denitions in the text–

using prior and subsequent information in the sentences–

inferring from the illustrations;–

understanding the meaning of punctuation features such as parentheses and of print features•such as bold print and italics.

In their second year at school, students create texts for instructional writing purposes as well as tosupport their other learning across the curriculum. They write in order to t hink about, record, andcommunicate experiences, ideas, and information that relate to a curriculum topic.

After two years at school, students understand their purpose for writing and use an appropriatesimple process to help them achieve their purpose. They generate their ideas in many ways,including brainstorming with peers, with the teacher, and independently.


use simple planning strategies to organise their ideas and then apply their planning as they•turn ideas into connected sentences;

develop content that is related to the curriculum topic, with some (mostly relevant) detail;•

revise their text (often in response to feedback) and edit it for clarity and accuracy of•

meaning;proofread their text to check punctuation and spelling, (e.g., by using their previous writing•and other sources to nd or verify correct spellings).


using their personal content vocabulary of written words as well as words and phrases that•are part of their expanding oral vocabulary;

using their developing phonemic awareness to form new words aurally by changing or taking•out some of the sounds in a word or by adding new sounds to words;

using their visual memory to spell personal vocabulary as well as high-frequency words,•which could include most of the words in essential lists 1 and 2 as well as some of the high-frequency words in essential lists 3 and 4; 12

encoding (spelling) unfamiliar words by:•

using their knowledge of diverse phoneme–grapheme relationships to write some–of the sounds of English in different ways (e.g., photo, lau gh, F riday )

applying strategies such as sounding out words, making analogies to words that–sound or look the same, and using known chunks and rimes

using their increasing knowledge of morphology to correctly spell word endings–and other morphemes (e.g., great est , or ist )

applying their knowledge of simple spelling rules (e.g., using– -es for plural nounsending in s , such as bus es );

attempting some variety and precision in the use of adjectives, nouns, and verbs;•

forming all lower-case and upper-case letters correctly with increasing speed and•automaticity;

using appropriate text structures for text types such as simple recounts, descriptions, and•reports;

composing mainly simple and compound sentences, with some variation in their beginnings;•

using simple conjunctions correctly, with subject–verb agreement and noun–pronoun•agreement;

using full stops, question marks, or exclamation marks to end sentences and using capital•letters correctly to begin sentences (and for familiar proper nouns).

Most students will be working at level 1 of the New Zealand Curriculum.

12 These lists are in Croft (1998). They are examples only, and teachers may refer to other reputable lists ofhigh-frequency words.

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READING WRITING

... English language learners … arebetter able to learn oral (and written)English when … their teacher helpsthem to notice language items andlanguage patterns …

page 81

From “Night is a Blanket” by Barbara Hill,Ready to Read (Gold)

From Sun Bears Are Special by Philippa Werry,Ready to Read (Gold)

In their third year at school, students are beginning to use texts to meet the demands of learningacross the curriculum as well as for instructional reading purposes.

After three years at school, students are reading, responding to, and thinking critically about a varietyof texts at Gold level. They are preparing for the transition to the School Journal as their main sourceof instructional reading material. They condently use a range of processing and comprehensionstrategies to make meaning from and think critically about longer and more complex texts.


monitor their reading, drawing on a variety of strategies ( at the sentence, paragraph,•and whole-text level) when their comprehension breaks down;

integrate and use a variety of comprehension strategies, including:•

making connections between ideas in the text and their prior knowledge in order–to make simple inferences

identifying and keeping track of ideas and information across longer sections of–text and looking for connections between ideas and information

evaluating information and ideas within a text in terms of their purpose for reading–

identifying a writer’s purpose for writing and explaining how they identied it,–using evidence from the text.


automatically reading all high-frequency words;•

articulating and using a variety of decoding strategies appropriately when they encounter•unfamiliar words (e.g., by recognising syllables within words or by applying their knowledge ofregular and irregular spelling patterns);

knowing the meanings of some common prexes (e.g.,• un- , re- , in-, dis-) and sufxes (e.g., -s ,-es , -ed , -ing, -ly , -er , -less , -ful) and understanding how they affect the meanings of words;

knowing the synonyms for, and multiple meanings of, many common words (e.g.,• left, might,right , ne);

applying their knowledge of word families, collocations, and sentence or phrase structures to•nd the meanings of unknown words;

looking for information in visual language features (such as text boxes in non-ction texts);•

understanding the purpose of basic punctuation.•

In their third year at school, students create texts for instructional writing purposes as well as tomeet other learning purposes across the curriculum. They write in order to think about, record,and communicate experiences, ideas, and information.

After three years at school, students independently create texts using a process that will help themachieve their specic purpose for writing. Where appropriate, their texts are clearly directed to aparticular audience through appropriate choice of content, language, and text form. However, theymay often assume that their audience is familiar with the context.

When students at this level create t exts, they:

use planning strategies to organise ideas for writing (e.g., by using lists and mind maps that•distinguish main ideas from details) and to generate language for writing;

create content, mostly relevant, that conveys several experiences, items of information, and/•or ideas relating to the topic or task and that sometimes includes details and/or comment;

revise and edit their writing for sense and impact and give their peers feedback on their•writing;

proofread their writing to check the spelling, grammar, and punctuation, drawing on their•own developing knowledge about words and sentence construction and using classroomresources such as junior dictionaries;

publish, where appropriate, in a variety of media, depending on t heir purpose and audience.•


using increasingly specic words and phrases (e.g., adjectives and more precise nouns and•verbs) that are appropriate to the content of the text;

using their visual memory to spell personal vocabulary and high-frequency words (e.g.,•many words from essential lists 1–4 and some from list 5 and list 6 13);

encoding (spelling) unfamiliar words by:•

using their knowledge of phoneme–grapheme relationships, along with t heir–developing awareness of spelling conventions, to select correct spelling patterns forsounds in words (e.g., spelling the k sound correctly in both catch and kitchen)

applying their growing knowledge of useful spelling rules (e.g., the rules relating to–adding simple plural sufxes such as those in baby/bab ies and half/hal ves ) and theirgrowing knowledge of morphology (e.g., adding a d to hear to make heard )

applying their expanding knowledge of graphemes (e.g., of graphemes such as– or ,awe, oar, and oor , which record similar sounds) to write words correctly;

using simple written language features (such as alliteration) and visual language features•(such as labelled diagrams) to support meaning;

writing all upper-case and lower-case letters correctly, legibly, and uently;•

using a basic text structure to organise their text effectively for its purpose (e.g., a story with•a beginning, a middle, and an end);

using both simple and compound sentences that vary in their beginnings and lengths (and in•the simple conjunctions used) and that are usually grammatically correct;

attempting to write complex sentences;•

constructing sentences in which the tenses are mostly consistent;•

using capital letters, full stops, question marks, and exclamation marks correctly.•

Most students will be working towards level 2 of the New Zealand Curriculum.

AFTER THREE YEARS AT SCHOOL

Compost worms

Make a smoothie!

14

13 These lists are in Croft (1998). They are examples only, and teachers may refer to other reputable lists ofhigh-frequency words.


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READING WRITING

Most students will be working at level 2 of the New Zealand Curriculum .


Constructing meaning duringdiscussion builds students’metacognition and increasestheir awareness of the ways

in which language is used to inuencereaders.

page 71

Year 4 students create texts as part of their instructional writing programme as well as writing for a rangeof different purposes to meet the demands of the New Zealand Curriculum. They write in order to thinkabout, record, and communicate experiences, ideas, and information to meet specic learning purposes.

By the end of year 4, students independently create a variety of texts in a range of print and electronicmedia. They understand their purposes for writing and identify suitable writing processes to meetthe purposes. Where appropriate, their writing demonstrates an awareness of their audience throughappropriate choice of content, language, and text form.


select and use tools (e.g., graphic organisers) and strategies (e.g., using headings) to plan and•organise ideas and information to meet their purposes for writing;

create content that is mostly relevant to the curriculum task, covers a range of ideas,•experiences, or items of information, and often includes detail and/or comment that supportsthe main points;

reread their writing at various stages to check for meaning and tness for purpose;•

revise and edit their writing for clarity, impact, and tness for purpose, often in response•to feedback;

proofread for accuracy of spelling, grammar, and punctuation;•

make choices, when appropriate, for publishing in a variety of media, including digital and•visual media.


using language and a simple text structure that are appropriate for the purpose, e.g., an•orientation, sequenced events described in the past tense, and linking words to show sequence(for a recount);

using vocabulary (in particular, nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs) that clearly conveys ideas,•experiences, or information;

encoding (spelling) by:•

using their knowledge of diverse phoneme–grapheme relationships (e.g.,– sh ip, ch ef ,oce an, sta ti on, spe ci al), of the meaning and spelling of morphemes (e.g., root words andafxes), and of common, reliable spelling rules and conventions

using their visual memory to help them spell personal vocabulary and high-frequency–words correctly (the high-frequency words include most words from essential lists 1–4and many from essential lists 5–7 14);

expanding their writing vocabulary by using strategies such as:•

applying their knowledge of the meaning of most common prexes (e.g.,– un-, sub-, pre-,non-) and most common sufxes (e.g., -ful, -ly, -tion, -able/-ible, and -ment )

using reference sources (e.g., dictionaries and thesauruses) to check the meanings of–words and to nd new words;

using written language features (such as similes and onomatopoeia) and visual language•features (such as illustrations and diagrams) to support meaning;

using mainly simple and compound sentences, along with some complex sentences, that vary•in their beginnings, structures, and lengths and are mostly correct grammatically;

correctly using subject–verb agreement, tense agreement, and pronouns and prepositions;•

using capital letters, full stops, question marks, and exclamation marks correctly and using•speech marks, commas for lists, and apostrophes for contractions correctly most of the time.

From “Camping down the Line”,by Amanda Jackson

(School Journal, Part 2 Number 1, 2004)

‘The Ram’

14 The lists of essential words are in Croft (1998). They are examples only, and teachers may refer to otherreputable lists of high-frequency words.

Students in year 4 are reading texts for instructional reading purposes, and they are also increasinglyrequired to use texts to meet the demands of the curriculum as an integral part of their regularclassroom programme. Students read texts in order to locate and evaluate information and ideasabout a range of subjects as they generate and answer questions to meet specic learning purposes.

By the end of year 4, students use t heir reading processing and comprehension strategies toread texts appropriate to this level accurately and uently. They use and integrate a variety ofcomprehension strategies in order to understand, respond to, and think critically about these texts.


have a strong sense of what they like to read as well as what they are able to read, and they•know where to locate such materials;

select from a variety of strategies to monitor their reading and to use when meaning breaks•down (e.g., cross-checking, rereading, using what they know about words and sentencestructure, and looking for clues to conrm their predictions and inferences);meet their purposes for reading by employing specic comprehension strategies, such as:•

identifying and summarising main ideas (using their knowledge of text structure)–

making and justifying inferences (using information that is close by in the text)–

making connections between the text and their prior knowledge to interpret–gurative language;

read for sustained periods and sustain meaning in longer texts over time (e.g., when reading• junior novels over several days);

can discuss their responses to a variety of texts (e.g., by evaluating the effectiveness of a•particular text for a particular purpose).


automatically reading all high-frequency words;•

automatically selecting an appropriate decoding strategy when they encounter unknown words;•

working out the meanings of new words, using strategies such as:•

applying knowledge of the meanings of most common prexes (e.g.,– over- , mis- , sub- , pre- , inter- , semi- , mid-) and most common sufxes (e.g., -ist , -ity , -ty , -ion, -able/-ible ,-ness , -ment )

using reference sources (e.g., dictionaries and thesauruses) to nd the meanings–of new words

inferring word meanings from known roots and afxes (e.g., by using the known–meaning of tele- and -port to infer the meaning of teleport );

working out the meanings of unfamiliar phrases and expressions (e.g., gures of speech) by•drawing on their oral language and the context;

recognising the features and purposes of some common text types and using this knowledge to•navigate and understand texts;

using visual language features to support their understanding of the ideas and information in•the text.

Reading a wide variety of texts across the curriculum will enrich and extend students’oral language.

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READING WRITING

Rich vocabulary instructionencourages students to developword consciousness by thinkingactively about word meanings, word

structures, and how they might use andunderstand those words in different situations.

page 73

From “Plight of the Sea Turtle”, by Jill MacGregor(School Journal , Part 3 Number 2, 2008)

‘Bottle Submarine’


The transition into year 5 brings with it a signicant step up in terms of the demand for students touse their r eading as an interactive tool for learning. Although they continue to read texts as partof their literacy learning programme, most of the texts that students are now required to read areinstructional materials from across the curriculum. The texts and tasks are similar for students inyear 5 and year 6. Students read in order to locate, evaluate, and integrate information and ideaswithin and across a small range of texts as they generate and answer questions to meet speciclearning purposes across the curriculum.

During these two years, students continue to develop their accuracy and uency as readers of avariety of texts. They increase their level of control and independence in selecting strategies forusing texts to support their learning. By the end of year 6 , students are required to read longertexts more quickly and to select appropriate strategies for different reading purposes moreeffectively than students in year 5.

When students at this level read, respond to, and think critically about texts, t hey:monitor their reading for accuracy and sense, demonstrating that they have the condence•to adjust their reading (e.g., by varying the speed of reading, by rereading, and by attendingto the most important information) when they encounter difculties;

understand how they select from and use their repertoire of comprehension strategies,•which include:

making connections between their prior knowledge and the concrete examples in–a text in order to understand abstract ideas in the text

locating and summarising ideas (e.g., by skimming or scanning, by identifying key–words, topic sentences, and key questions, or by using subheadings)

drawing on several related items of information in order to infer ideas and information–that are not directly stated in the text

evaluating and integrating ideas and information across a small range of t exts;–

regularly read for sustained periods and sustain meaning over many days in longer texts•(such as novels) and across a variety of texts on the same topic;

identify and reect on writers’ purposes and on the ways in which writers use language and•ideas to suit their purposes (e.g., by using vocabulary to set a scene or develop a mood).


decoding texts uently and accurately, using a range of reliable strategies;•

nding and learning the meanings of unknown vocabulary by using strategies such as•applying their knowledge of how words work or seeking explanations in the text or inillustrations;

understanding that words and phrases can have gurative as well as literal meanings and•that some words have different meanings depending on the context;

recognising basic grammatical constructions and understanding how these affect meaning;•

identifying the specic language features and structures of many common continuous and•non-continuous text types (including mixed text t ypes);

interpreting illustrations, photographs, text boxes, diagrams, maps, charts, and graphs.•

The transition into year 5 brings with it a signicant step up in terms of the demand for students to usetheir writing as an interactive tool for learning. Although they continue to create texts as part of theirinstructional writing programme, most of the texts that students are required to write in years 5 and 6are intended to meet the demands of the curriculum. The texts and tasks are similar for students in year5 and year 6. They use their writing to think about, record, and communicate experiences, id eas, andinformation to meet specic learning purposes across the curriculum.

During these two years, students write about increasingly challenging subject matter. They increasetheir level of control and independence in selecting processes and strategies to write texts for a rangeof purposes that includes recounting, describing, narrating, reporting, arguing, and explaining. Bythe end of year 6 , students are required to write more complex texts than students in year 5. Theyindependently create texts that are appropriate for their purposes and audiences, choosing effectivecontent, language, and text structures.

When students at this level create texts, they:understand their purposes for writing and identify writing processes that are appropriate for•those purposes;

use a variety of planning activities, such as constructing ow charts, for those writing tasks•that need to be planned;

generate content that is usually relevant to the task, supporting or elaborating their main•ideas with detail that has been selected with some care;

independently revise and edit their writing to clarify its meaning and add impact, often in•response to feedback;

proofread to check the spelling, grammar, and punctuation, using appropriate computer-•based or print tools.


using an overall text structure that is appropriate for their purpose, e.g., an orientation, a•problem, a climax, and a satisfying resolution (for a narrative) and an introduction, a series ofmain points, and a logical conclusion (for a report);

selecting vocabulary that is appropriate to the topic, register, and purpose (e.g., academic and•subject-specic vocabulary appropriate for specic learning areas or precise and descriptivewords to create a mental image);

using writt en language features (such as emotive vocabulary) and visual language features•(such as headings, charts, or maps) to extend or clarify meaning and to engage their audience;

using their knowledge of how words work (e.g., knowledge of diverse phoneme–grapheme•

relationships, of common, reliable spelling rules and conventions, and of the meanings andspellings of morphemes), along with their knowledge of word derivations, to uently andcorrectly encode most unfamiliar words, including words of many syllables;

correctly spelling all high-frequency words• 15 used in t heir writing;

organising related ideas into paragraphs (e.g., paragraphs comprising a topic sentence with•supporting detail) and beginning to use cohesive devices to link paragraphs;

using simple and compound sentences that are correct grammatically and have a variety•of structures, beginnings, and lengths and using some complex sentences that are mostlycorrect grammatically;

using basic punctuation that is mostly correct (e.g., when punctuating dialogue);•

attempting some complex punctuation (e.g., using apostrophes for possession, commas for•clauses, or semicolons).

15 High-frequency words at this level could, for example, include all those in the lists of essential words in Croft (1998).

Most students will be working towards level 3 of the New Zealand Curriculum by the end of year 5 and at level 3 of the New Zealand Curriculum by the end of year 6.

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When students discuss wordmeanings and grammar or talkabout how language choices andmodes of delivery vary a ccording

to purpose, they build awareness of theirlanguage use and gain greater control of it.

page 78

From “The Gestapo’s Most Wanted”, by Feana Tu‘akoi(School Journal, Part 4 Number 2, 2009)

‘No Advertisements’


When students enter year 7 , they encounter increasing demands in terms of the complexity of thetexts they read in all areas of the curriculum, including English. They are supported in developingtheir reading expertise by deliberate and explicit literacy instruction that uses these texts. The textand task demands of the curriculum are similar for students in year 7 and year 8. Students read inorder to locate, evaluate, and synthesise information and ideas within and across a range of textsas they generate and answer questions to meet specic learning purposes across the curriculum.

During years 7 and 8, students continue to develop their accuracy, uency, and independence inreading and in using texts to support their learning. This expertise includes reading at a rate thatis appropriate to the text and the task. By the end of year 8 , students need to be condently anddeliberately choosing the most appropriate strategies to suit their purposes for reading in differentlearning areas.


use appropriate skills and technologies to locate and use a range of texts for specic•purposes;

increasingly control a repertoire of comprehension strategies that they can use exibly and•draw on when they know they are not comprehending fully, including such strategies as:

using their prior knowledge, along with information in the text, to interpret abstract–ideas, complex plots, and sophisticated themes

identifying and resolving issues arising from competing information in texts–

gathering, evaluating, and synthesising information across a small range of texts–

identifying and evaluating writers’ purposes and the ways in which writers use–language and ideas to suit their purposes;

apply some criteria to evaluate texts (e.g., accuracy of information; presence of bias).•


decoding texts with such automaticity that they do not need to decode all words;•

working out more complex, irregular, and/or ambiguous words by using strategies such as•inferring the unknown from the known;

recognising and understanding the features and structures of a wide variety of continuous•and non-continuous text types and text forms;

recognising and understanding a variety of grammatical constructions and some rhetorical•patterns (e.g., cause and effect; comparing and contrasting);

making links across a text by recognising connectives or adverbial clauses;•

using their growing academic and content-specic vocabulary to understand texts;•interpreting metaphor, analogy, and connotative language.•

When students enter year 7, they encounter new demands as they engage with the breadth anddepth of the content they need to learn across the curriculum. Students continue to develop theirwriting knowledge and skills through their instructional writing programme in English, but mostof their writing is done to meet the demands of learning across other areas of the curriculum.

As in earlier years, students in years 7 and 8 use their writing to t hink about, record, andcommunicate experiences, ideas, and information. Because the writing demands in curriculumactivities are often implicit, students need to develop greater independence and exibility indeciding on processes and in choosing text structures and language that are appropriate tospecic tasks.

In years 7 and 8, students create texts choosing content, language, and a clear and logical textstructure to meet the requirements of the curriculum task (for example, when writing personalnarratives, poems, arguments, feature articles, character proles, research reports, essays,responses to literature, and short answers). By the end of year 8 , students need to be condentlyand deliberately choosing the most appropriate processes and strategies for writing in differentlearning areas.


understand their purposes for writing and how to achieve those purposes (e.g., by using•different ways to examine and present their own thinking and knowledge);

plan effectively, where appropriate, by using strategies such as mind mapping or skills•such as information-literacy skills to nd and record the information they need fortheir writing;

create content that is concise and relevant to the curriculum task, often including carefully•selected detail and/or comment that supports or elaborates on the main points;

craft and recraft text by revising and editing, checking that t he text meets its purpose and•is likely to engage t he intended audience, and proofreading the text to check the grammar,spelling, and punctuation;

actively seek and respond to feedback on their writing.•


deliberately choosing a clear and logical text structure to suit their purpose and audience,•sometimes innovating in order to achieve this;

using language that is appropriate to the topic, audience, and purpose (e.g., expressive,•academic, or subject-specic vocabulary) and discussing these language choices usingappropriate terms, such as register and tone;

deliber ately using written language features (e.g., rhetorical questions and metaphors)•and visual language features to engage the audience and/or convey meaning;

uently and correctly encoding most unfamiliar words (including words of many syllables)•by drawing on their knowledge of how words work (e.g., in terms of diverse phoneme–grapheme relationships, common and reliable spelling rules and conventions, and themeanings and spellings of morphemes) and their knowledge of word derivations;

organising their writing into paragraphs in which the ideas are clearly related and linking•these paragraphs;

using a variety of sentence structures, beginnings, and lengths for effect;•

using complex sentences that are grammatically correct;•

using basic punctuation correctly and attempting some complex punctuation (e.g., using•semicolons, colons, and parentheses).


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When students enter year 9, they are required to read and write a widerange of texts 16 in order to meet a variety of specic learning purposesacross the curriculum. Increasingly, the language and forms of thesetexts are subject-specic.

Most curriculum tasks at this level require students to use both theirreading and their writing, to a greater or lesser extent. Students reada single text or multiple texts on a topic in order to locate, analyse,evaluate, and synthesise information and ideas. They write to developand shape their thinking as well as to record information, reveal theirunderstanding, and communicate their ideas. Often, the main purposeof their reading and writing is to support an oral- or visual-languagetask, for example, to prepare for an oral presentation on a specic topic

or to record their response to a visual text or a practical task.

16 The progressions for years 9 and 10 include characteristics of the texts thatstudents read and write. For years 1–8, the lists of text characteristics areavailable in the reading and writing standards.

“Didymo aka rock snot” ( Alpha 128, Royal Society of New Zealand)

18

From Break Free magazine (Ministry of Health, March 2000)

The texts students readIn years 9 and 10, students are required to read continuous and non-continuous texts in electronic and print media, for example: referencematerials (including primary source materials); digital materialswith hypertext; printed novels, poetry, plays, and textbooks; historicaldocuments; manuals and procedural texts; mathematics problems; andnewspapers and magazines. These texts often include:

complex ideas and multiple items of information (in both longer•texts and short, information-dense texts);

sophisticated themes, complex plots and relationships, and•unfamiliar settings;

ideas and information written for a general adult audience rather•than a specialist audience;

academic and content-specic vocabulary that expresses•abstract concepts relating to a range of topics within and acrosscurriculum areas;

terminology, text structures, and conventions that may have•different meanings or function differently in different curriculumareas;

literary devices such as personication, metaphor, and repetition;•

non-sequential organisation, which may include complex•sections and graphics that are not clearly linked to other parts ofthe text.

By the end of year 10 , students condently select texts acc

Documents

The Literacy Learning Progressions